Southeast Bengaluru apartment blaze: Heard her screaming, called fire brigade, says neighbour

BENGALURU: “We heard a woman screaming for help and banging the grills of the balcony. All of us watched helplessly as she was charred to death within a minute,” said Ravi Chandran, who lives on the same road as Ashrith Aspire, the apartment where an LPG leak killed two women on Tuesday evening.
Ravi Chandran, a corporate employee, told TOI he went to his verandah at 4.15pm for a tea break when he heard a blast and saw smoke coming out of two second-floor flats.
He heard construction workers near the apartment screaming and at 4.20pm, he called the fire brigade emergency number 101.
“Within 10 minutes, we saw flames flying out of the balconies and one woman running to the edge and screaming for help. Around 4.45pm, the fire enveloped her and within a minute, she was charred to death. She was talking on the phone and pleading for help,” he said. He added that the grills had no opening for the woman to get out and the net on the balcony to keep pigeons out may have added to the blaze, he said.
“All of us standing outside saw this helplessly and began crying,” he said, adding that fire brigade personnel reached the spot around 4.55pm.
Four persons who tried to enter the flat to save the women rushed out crying because of burns, Chandran said. The charred body was on the balcony till about 8pm as fire force personnel found it impossible to find their way into the flat full of smoke. Most residents of the apartment took refuge in the nearby Janhavi Enclave as electricity supply to their homes was cut off and rescue operations were under way.
Two Ashrity Aspire residents Naveen and Karthik said they were in their flats and did not hear the explosion. They came to know about the fire via their WhatsApp group around 4.15pm. They began evacuating women and children from all the flats and took them to the basement. Naveen, who lives on the same floor but a different wing of the flat that caught fire, said they faced no problem due to smoke and there was no panic. “We’re waiting for the all-clear to go back to our flats,” he said.
A former resident of the flat, who reached the spot on hearing about the fire, was shocked. “I’m not sure if this is the same aged lady I knew. She was always gracious while interacting with others.”